Rare papular presentation of an elastofibromatous lesion of the alveolar mucosa

A 72-year-old Japanese female patient presented with an asymptomatic, white-colored, smooth-surfaced, firm papule 3 mm in diameter involving the mucosa on the posterior part of the right maxilla. An excisional biopsy specimen was diagnosed as an oral focal submucous elastofibromatous lesion. A review of the literature revealed very few doc-umented cases of oral mucosal lesions characterized by accumulation of degenerated elastic fibers. Various oral lesions have histopathological fea-tures similar to those observed in cutaneous diseases, and the present case was a focal submucous elastofibromatous lesion in the alveolar mucosa.